Documentation

Coordinating an event is a complex task, often requiring the contribution of many stakeholders.

Maintaining thorough records will support you to:

plan and implement your event

meet legal requirements

evaluate your event

respond to media enquiries or issues

respond to legal action against the organisers

and more.

Depending on the nature of your event and legal requirements, the documents you retain may include:

event plan

stakeholder analysis

marketing plan

communications plan

budget

other plans/formal documentation

records of procedure.

Seek legal advice on how long to retain your records. In addition to meeting legal requirements, retaining records of how an event is managed can be useful for succession planning.

Event plan

The key purpose of an event plan is to provide an overview of the event, as well as to provide authorities and agencies with the necessary information for licence and permit approvals.

Your event plan should contain the following:

the name of the event

date, event start and finish times

the dates and times of building and dismantling event infrastructure (known as bump in and bump out)

location and venue/s

target audience/s

description of the event — its design, objectives and desired outcomes

run sheet of key event timings, activities and programming

production schedule detailing tasks from bump-in through to bump-out

whether the event will be ticketed, and an outline of ticketing procedures

contact details for key staff and suppliers/contractors

site plan with key facilities, entrances and exits marked

outline of command and control structure

list of the approvals and licences needed to deliver the event, the names of the approval bodies and the amount of notice required for each

security plan

emergency procedures

cleaning services required

waste management.

Financial plan

The following should be compiled as part of your financial plan:

an approximate budget with best, likely and worst-case scenarios

cash flow statement

whether the event is to be fully or partially funded by ticket or other event-driven revenue (such as food or merchandise)

how bills and incidental costs will be paid for in the lead-up to the event before revenue starts to come in.

Budget

To ensure your event is sustainable, a budget that captures all incoming and outgoing costs needs to be put together at least six months before your event.

Income can include sponsorship and grants.

Expenditure should include:

staffing

staging and production

infrastructure

transport and fuel costs

artists and performers

catering

travel and accommodation

security

cleaning

waste

toilets

ticketing provider

marketing and communications

research

licence fees

first aid

health provision

insurances

government agency services such as police and traffic management planning.

You should track expenditure against your budget to ensure there are no surprises, especially after the event. Obtain quotes prior to your event and then, as invoices come in, you can cross check for anomalies and manage contingencies.

Communications plan

Consider how you will communicate with stakeholders in the lead up to your event. This can be achieved by conducting a stakeholder analysis, which identifies:

who you should speak to

what you should speak to them about

when you should speak to them

how you will speak to them.

Depending on the nature of your event, you may need to speak to:

your target audience for the event

non-event attendees such as local residents and motorists

service providers that may be impacted by the event, such as hotels, motels and churches